Happy New Year :) (December 29, 2014)

Family!!! 

It was so great to get to talk to you all on Christmas!!! Aren't we just so blessed with the technology that lets us get to talk and see each other?!? It's just amazing! I'm glad you are all doing well :)

I'm glad you all had a wonderful Christmas! Thank you soooo much for the packages! You are all the sweetest!!! I sure do love candy but don't be surprised if I'm huge when I get home :) haha Also thanks for sending some things for my companion, she loved them!!! 

There are just soo many things I'd love to talk to you all about, but 40 minutes just doesn't cover it all, luckily I'll be seeing you real soon. I can't believe how fast time is going by, there is less than a month until I can hug you all! I'm expecting LOTS of hugs :)

So I don't know if there is much news, but I will tell you about our investigator Brent. So he is 20, I think I told you about him... But he needs ALL of your prayers!!!! He comes to church every week, reads the Book of Mormon and meets with us. He had received a confirmation that he needed to be baptized, was on date, then his parents (who are catholic) told him he's moving way to fast. So he decided he wants to wait, then last time he said "I'm not sure about the whole baptism thing.." It's so sad to see him going the other way, He knows what God wants him to do, but is letting the fear of his parents get to him. We are praying really hard for him! Satan works hard on those who are coming closer to God....But I know that the power of God is stronger, faith in Christ is stronger, and the Prayer of Faith is Stronger! All things are possible with God! :)

I have to give an instruction on how to be a Humble, Patient, and Loving Companion at the Leadership Meeting tomorrow... Wish me luck! Instructing at this meeting is intense, and pretty intimidating, talking to a room full of people who are probably much better than me in a lot ways, hopefully I can say something good...

Anyways, thanks for letting me share my testimony with you on Christmas! Sorry I am such a bawl baby... But I just love my Savior Jesus Christ sooo much!! And I love my Heavenly Father! I know they love us too and I know their power is real! It is my hope that everyone can feel of that Love, and know for themselves of this truth! I'm so grateful for the parts of my testimony that I have learned on my mission, and the more I learn the more I realize I have so much more to learn :) Good thing life's not over and we can all still learn!!

One quick miracle.. Last week we were walking around downtown Farmington, contacting and trying to talk to people. My companion and I walked past this man, and after a few minutes she tells me we have to go back and talk to him. So we turn around and are pretty much stalking and chasing this man, like he is prey, hahaha... I feel awkward and ask my companion if she really feels like we should talk to him, cause I feel like a creeper..She says yes, so finally we catch up to him in the parking lot. His name is Rajesh and he is visiting from India, he is here for a few weeks and guess what..... He was walking around looking for a church!!!!! He wanted to pray and couldn't find a church that was open, so Heavenly Father sent him something that was better.... The TRUTH! We talked and prayed with him and he thanked us! We invited him to church and he came yesterday! He is so great, but he leaves in 2 weeks. We are praying real hard he and his family gets a visa so they can come back and live here!!! :) Anyways, I'm grateful for my companion, God puts us in 2 for a reason, so there is double chance for us to hear and act on the promptings of the spirit! :)

I LOVE YOU!

Love, Sister Tracy :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! (December 22, 2014)

Merry Christmas Family!!!

I can't believe it is Christmas already!! I love this time of year, everyone seems to be soo much happier during this time, it's because Christ is filling everyone's hearts :) I just love Jesus Christ!

Your week sounds super fun! I'm glad everything went real well! Thanks for updating me! :)

So for Christmas our relief society president said we could come to her home to Skype or call, so we'll be going over there 12 our time... so 10 am your time... My companion wants to call at the same time as her brother who is on a mission in Honduras, so I don't know exactly what time but it will be somewhere in between 10 and 12 your time. Just a reminder we only have 40 minutes :) I'm excited to get to talk to all of you!!

So Wow, yeah what a huge week! I am serving in Livonia with Sister Cardenas. She's from Texas and turns 20 on Saturday. She's been out for almost 9 months and she's been in Livonia for almost 6 months. Actually Haili, Sister Graham actually began her training, so that's cool :) It's definitely different than Ypsi and Hill Street, but I LOVE it!!! We've met some great people and we are working hard to find lots of new people! So we live in Northville, just outside of our area. We actually live with the Northville Sisters, Sister Gordon and Sister Price! I don't know if you remember but Sister Price was my companion in Rochester :) So it's fun being with all of them!

Since we live out of our area we practically live at the church, we eat lunch and dinner there, so that's fun :) There are 3 sets of missionaries in our ward again. The Assistants, us, and then a trio. Also, President and Sister Gerber live in our area and the mission office is in our area too. I keep joking how president has to keep a close eye on me my last transfer by bringing me to Livonia, I guess he's afraid I'm going to go crazy or something.... Just joking :)

We're teaching an awesome guy named Brent. He's 20 and during the summer ordered his own Book of Mormon off of Barnes and Noble...don't know how legit it is.... But he's got a real one now :) But it was awesome, the sister knocked on his door a few weeks ago and he wanted to meet with them. He's a real thinker, but he truly wants to know what's right. He's prayed and come to know God wants him to be baptized, but is hesitant to move fast, which is totally good, It's just awesome that he is so sincere about this!!! Also he taught our Book of Mormon class that we have weekly, so that was Awesome!!

Real quick, remember to focus on Christ during this Christmas season! And if you haven't already, pass out all of the pass along cards that came in your Ensign :) We are SOOO blessed to have the Gift of Jesus Christ! Just as the angel told the shepherds in Luke Chapter 2 "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." I love that it says "to ALL people"!!! Jesus Christ is a gift of Joy to ALL people!!! Yes, that means us :) I don't know about you, but I sure love Joy :) :) I know with all my heart that if we want the most and greatest joy we can find on this earth, it is only through Christ! This last I guess 17 months, I have felt such great JOY! And Joy doesn't have end! As long as we keep our focus on Christ!  We can't let a day go by without thinking of him. I love him So much! I love my Father in Heaven soo much, that He sent Jesus Christ for us! He loves us, He loves you! :) And I love you too!
Have A Merry Christmas!!

Love,

Sister Tracy

The Last Transfer! (December 15, 2014)

Wow!

I can't believe this is my last transfer! Time has just flown by and I seriously can't picture anything else other than being a missionary right now, good thing I at least have 6 weeks left!

The big news is I am being Transferred!!!!!!!!!!! I was so shocked! I even forgot it was transfer call day and when our district leader told me I was leaving I didn't even believe him. I was only here for 6 weeks and I LOVE everyone sooooo much! It's amazing how quickly you grow to love people! It's been sad to say goodbye to all of our investigators, but I told them they have to invite me to their baptisms!! :) President Gerber came to church on Sunday and I told him I wasn't too happy I was leaving, and he just laughs and says "No one is!" haha I just love him! I'm excited for my next transfer though I know I will be wherever God wants me! I will be training a new sister training leader my last transfer, so no pressure... Good thing we've got God helping us out! :) President pretty much told me where I'm going..... But I'll send you the address next week :)

So Christmas is next week!!!! Can you believe it?!? This month is flying by! We will have 40 minutes to talk on Christmas. I have no idea where we'll be or what our schedule is since I'll be in a new ward, I don't know if we'll be skyping or calling on the phone. Any preferences? What time is best for me to call? Make sure you let me know if it's your time zone or my time zone, so we get it right :) I'm excited to hear you all!!

Also anything anyone wants from Michigan let me know, or forever hold your piece!

So this week has been great! We've had the great privilege of having a lot of sister missionaries return home and come out and work with us! It's been fun to hear how they speak about their missions, how they've changed and things they are and aren't doing since they've been back. All I've got to say is, I'm making a promise with God that I will read my scriptures EVERY DAY of my life! I've seen how when you let little things slide, you start to slide and we just can't! It's also helped me ponder on my mission and the greatest things I've learned. I know I talk about this pretty much every week, but LOVE has to be pretty high up there! I JUST LOVE these people sooo much!!!! I know God loves them soo much and I'm grateful I get to feel that love as I teach them! We've been working with people that have some real tough situations, things I never even dreamed of. People that have made some awful decisions, but as I sit there and testify to them and as they tell us their true concerns, I am overwhelmed with Love for them! If there is one thing I know it is that we are God's children and He loves us!!! 

2 cool experiences.... There's a woman whose son joined the church about a year ago, he passed away recently and his mom has been really struggling. We've been teaching her and this week she said "I'm finally starting to see why my son was drawn to your church" She's been able to see the light that comes from the Gospel and shines from those who are living it!

Next, one of our investigators has really struggled in life with addiction and temptation. He has been blown away at how we can be happy and have fun, without all of the garbage of the world. This week he told us how he's been filling the spirit so much in his life. And how he feels like he can literally see light the more he comes to things and as we meet with him. CHRIST is the Light! Those who are living Christlike lives, Living Christ's gospel, Teaching of Christ have this Light! "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. 5:16

We had a wonderful Zone Conference and President talked about repentance! It was Amazing! I love repentance sooo much! We talked about how repentance is to change our view of God, ourselves, and the world. We discussed what that view might look like on different ends of the spectrum. We have to strive to have God's view, not the world's. It's so easy to get caught up in the world, but those things really don't matter. We discussed Lehi's dream and how Lehi was able to make it to the Tree of Life without getting distracted by the great and spacious building. He was focused on his eternal destination. Repentance helps us focus on our eternal destination. How blessed we are to repent! Repent Quickly and Daily!!! It is soooooo important!!!

Well Goodbye Ypsilanti and U of M! It was great serving here and I'll always love these people!

On to another area and another companion to love!

Love, 

Sister Tracy

Merry Almost Christmas (December 8, 2014)

Good Afternoon! :)

Thanks so much for your emails every week! They sure do mean a lot to me!! This has been a fabulous week! And we only have 1 more left of the transfer!! Crazy stuff, I only have 1 transfer left after this, and I'm just doing my best to sprint to the end, and then hopefully I'll be in good shape for the next race I'm starting :) I feel like the mission I've been serving has been like a giant workout, where I'm preparing for the rest of life! I've learned so much and am still learning, and guess what... I will always be learning!

This week was pretty remarkable! We were teaching one of our recent converts since it will be his first Christmas as a Christian. As we taught him the story of our Savior's birth for the first time, the Spirit was SOOO strong! It was absolutely beautiful to watch him discover how his Savior came into this world and the gift He is to all of us!

We also went to a really neat program. It's called 1 night in Bethlehem. We went to it last year. So we drive up there to Rochester with our investigator MaRye, it's a walk through nativity and the spirit was Sooo strong! I also got to see a lot of the people who I LOVE soo much! But even more than those people I love, I just love my Savior so much! It's been a breath of fresh air to get to talk with Him so much!! We've been watching He is the Gift with everyone we can. We just say "Hey do you have a smart phone?" "Pull it out, we've got an awesome video to show you!" We've found 3 of our new investigators that way this week!

Have a wonderful Week!

Love, Sister Tracy

December Already! (December 1, 2014)

Happy December :)

I can't believe it is December already!! Time is going so fast! How do I slow it down?! I LOVE this season sooooo much!!! 

I'm glad you all had a wonderful time in Colorado for Thanksgiving! We had a WONDERFUL week!!! We don't have much time today since we're going to the Henry Ford Museum :) I'm excite so, I'll just write as much as I can.

I just can't testify enough of God's Love! God just Loves us sooo much, He is sooo good!! We had had like no time to set up the appointments we needed to for our week. Tuesday we had to take in our car, cause it was making all sorts of funny noises. We start texting and in a half hour we had appointments back to back to back set up. We saw some sweet miracles! We were at the church that night for our correlation meeting with our ward mission leader and some members were at the church playing ball. We go in and say hello and the sister whispers to us, "Alright you're not leaving here until you have appointments set up with these kids." (They were mostly all non-members). So that's what we did! The members here are AMAZING! 

Our investigators Gma made us some sweet potato pie!! IT WAS DELICIOUS!! Food in Ypsi is heaven! :) 

Thanksgiving was Wonderful! We did lots of finding that day, knocking lots of doors and talking to people walking the streets. Funny story... We go up to this one door with like ten cars parked all around. We knock and the Grandpa opens up and lets us right in and is very welcoming. The rest of the family is just staring at us, like we are nuts. Good old Grandpa thought we were part of the family!!! :) Haha We definitely all are part of God's eternal family :)

We went to President and Sister Gerber's for lunch and had Bacon wrapped turkey :) YUMMMMMOOO! We talked about the 2 most important things the Gospel and Bacon :) Haha We then had dinner with a member in Ypsi, It was real fun! And then we had dessert with our Senior Couple the Hunts! It was a day full of Thanks and Love and Christ!

We had another awesome experience! We went up to campus on Friday and it was as if everyone has fled the country! We walked around and I saw one kid from a distance. We eventually get to him and he was lost looking for his friends apartment. He's from China and we asked him if he knew what was about to happen in December? He's a freshman and has never seen Christmas before. We told him we had a video to show him about what Christmas is all about. We stood standing on the sidewalk, with the snow falling down on us, watching "He is the Gift" on his phone. The Spirit was SOOOO Strong!!! It finishes and he looks up at us and says, "I feel peaceful". It was a very neat experience and we're seeing him again this week to teach him about all that this Gift entails! 

If you haven't already, you have to watch He is the Gift! It is a wonderful video and I feel the spirit EVERYTIME! Go to Christmas.mormon.org or youtube if the website isn't working. The greatest evidence of God's Love is his gift to the world, Jesus Christ! I love my Savior and I know as we discover, embrace, and share the Gift, we will be filled with Peace, Joy, and Love :) I spoke yesterday in Church about our journey here on earth and how we fail and fall when we are on our path to our destination. But because of the Gift of Jesus Christ we can get up and finish our journey! I know this is true! Hope you have a wonderful DAY!! :)

Love Always, 

Sister Tracy

Happy Thanksgiving!! (November 24, 2014)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

  Hey Family! It's a great day and a great week!! I love the Thanksgiving season! I love when everyone focuses on what they are grateful, you can just feel the joy in the air :)

I can't believe how warm St. George is!! It's been a week full of snow, everywhere is white and Beautiful!! We definitely don't have as much snow as New York though, Did you hear you much they got!? Crazy stuff! Sounds like you all had fun though! And I love that you were able to go watch Melinda dance, I will be excited to see her when I get home :) I LOVE the power of the priesthood! I'm so grateful that Dad has that priesthood and is able to worthily use it! It's the coolest!!!

I didn't know you got another Camry! That's exciting. I can't believe it got all cut up! I'm glad Dad is OK!!! 

HAVE FUN IN COLORADO!!! That will be soo fun! So many of my favorite people all in the same place :)

This week we were out of our Area 2 days. Sister Rikard had her one year temple trip, so I went up to Brighton with a Sister Sorenson who was actually Sister Kesler's MTC companion. It was FUN! Then we spent Saturday in Plymouth with Sister Mo'unga :) and Sister Kunzler! It was a Fabulous week with some Fabulous Sisters!

I JUST LOVE this area sooo much!! We are still working hard and I'm loving it! We have quite a few progressing investigators and they are all Asians :) I just love our Asians!! They are the most sincere, honest, and soul searching people I've ever met! Yesterday we were teaching a woman Xiuryi, and we were teaching her what the spirit was. As we explained the role of the spirit, she thought it was just the coolest thing ever, and kept saying I want to feel that, I want to feel that!

Chen Chen came to church!!! We've been seeing soo many miracles!! He told us he wanted to focus on the Book of Mormon, so he wasn't coming to church. But our appointment fell through on Friday then Saturday, so we text him and say "We can meet at 1-4 at the church" And he didn't hesitate and said YES and he CAME!!

Yusong is doing super great as well! Turns out his student professor is a member of the church!! We've seen a great jump in his interest and progression since he found out and talks to this member. Members are SOOO important, We've got to all work together! As we taught him the importance of church we related it to a race car that is running the track but has to stop to change his tires, ect. We are running the track of life every week and we need to stop each Sunday and spiritually refuel ourselves! In his closing prayer this is what he says "Thank you for the sisters teaching me to change my tires." :) :) He just brings me soooo much joy!! :) :)

We had A SUPER miracle!!!! So Saturday night at 3 in the morning Sister Rikard wakes me up to find our toilet overflowing and water is EVERYWHERE! We got it to stop and then did our best using a bedspread to soak up the water. We tried plunging it and nothing was working, so we went to bed and in the morning tried again.... Nothing... So we went to our 6 hours of church and came home at night to find it in the same situation.. We had called maintenance already twice and no one even called us back. So what do we do? We pray that we can figure out to fix our toilet. We get up and the first flush WORKS!! haha I know this sounds ridiculous, but GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!! He knows us and loves us and helps us with the small little things, like fixing our toilets :) 

Now to a different note... This week I've studied about THANKS! We often learn and study about thanks and make gratitude lists, and prayers of thanks, and do some service. As I've thought about what I'm grateful for, I am so Grateful for the Gift from God, Our Savior Jesus Christ!! This Christmas season the church has a campaign called, "He is the Gift" it is SOOO cool!! Just like the Easter video "Because of Him", there will be a "He is the Gift" video, It will be available to watch in about 2 days and 2 hours! :) It will be at Christmas.mormon.org. As a mission we've been giving lots of pass along cards and other ideas to help spread the GIFT! It's super awesome! Anyways I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and as I've thought about how to give thanks, I was reading in Mosiah 2. King Benjamin is talking to the people about giving thanks and in vs. 22 he explains how all that is required of us to keep His commandments! Are we truly that grateful that we do keep His commandments? With my time ticking away, I've been studying a lot on becoming a more consecrated missionary. As missionaries we have to sacrifice everything! Give it All Up! Not just to be here, but as we are here. We have to give up our desires, forget ourselves and not do what we want to do, but what the Lord wants us to do!! Even those that don't wear a name tag have been asked to offer their whole souls (Omni 1:26). Everything we have is the Lord's!! Everything except our will, which he is asking we give to him. I know with all my heart blessings await us as we consecrate ourselves! Are we giving all we can to the Lord in whatever calling we have at this time in our life?! 

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, that he has given me opportunities to Become like my Father in Heaven. Because of Him I can repent and change. Because of Him I can receive his strength to overcome my weaknesses. Because of Him I can find true and eternal lasting JOY! :)

I'm grateful for all of you! I LOVE you and wish you a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Love, 

Sister Tracy

God is Soo Good!!! (Nov 10, 2014)

Hey there Family!!

So where to even start! This week has been SOOOOO crazy!!! So, Monday was just super crazy with both Sister Kesler and I leaving our area! Packing, running errands, saying goodbyes, and getting the apartment ready for the new sisters! So we go to transfers and here's the news....... I'm in the Ypsi Hill area with Sister Rikard!!!! So it's been SUPER busy! The Hill street area was the sisters that serve on the U of M campus and in the YSA ward, It was Sister Rikard and Sister Weber, our STL's last transfer. And the Ypsi Hill area is in the Ypsilanti ward and they also worked with the YSA at EMU also in the Hill Street Ward. So due to so many missionaries leaving in the next few months... About a third of the mission will be leaving by January..... The Hill Street area and Ypsi Hill area were combined! And yes it has been insanely busy!! :) It's the BEST!!!!! Both areas had weeks filled with appointments, so we've had to cancel many different appointments and figure out how to blend the two wards and areas. God is definitely blessing us though! And I'm sooo Grateful Sister Rikard knew about Hill Street already cause that would have been even more insane!

I LOVE the two wards! It's fun to be in a YSA ward, very different than serving in a family ward, but the ward is on fire!!! We had at least 12 members come out with us to appointments this week! We had a recent convert (Alex) bring his girlfriend to Church!! Then they both came to an appointment with us for an investigator Ryan. We taught about the Book of Mormon and at the end, Alex's girlfriend kept her Book of Mormon it was AWESOME! We had a few other student's bring roommates/coworkers/classmates to church and they are inviting everyone to meet the missionaries! It's Fantastic!! Then in the Ypsi ward, the ward is on fire as well!! Our ward mission leader is FANTASTIC! He's super involved and so are all the members! The ward mission plan is so specific to every individual family and as we've met with the families, Everyone is Doing sooo much missionary work! I feel so blessed to get to serve in these two wards! Then to top it off my companion is practically perfect in every way! She's from Oregon and then went to school at BYU-Hawaii, she got her bachelors, in peace building and business (I think...) She has been a Sister Training Leader since day 1 of her mission and has been out almost a year! I'm learning so much from her! :) I just am so excited to be serving in this area!

We're working with Sooo many amazing people!! We are working with over 40 people (investigators, less-actives, and recent converts) combining the two areas, and I love ALL of them sooo much! I'll tell you about a few...

Van Rice lives in Ypsi, he's from Detroit and met the sisters at a fair, where they set up a booth. He's on date for baptism in January. He is the sweetest man! He loves The Book of Mormon and the priesthood! He told us he could only come maybe once a month to church so we called to invite him again and we find out he was embarrassed to come because he doesn't have a suit. We said "Van, you don't need a suit, God just wants you to be at church and to remember Jesus Christ!" He got sooo excited and it was the sweetest thing! God just loves us all and wants us to come to him, with where we are at right now, I love how much God loves his children!!!

Kelly Williams is a convert from Arizona. She's wonderful and we taught her about family history work. She's Obsessed now :) haha She's caught the spirit of Elijah! She's going to the temple for the first time this week to do her families baptisms!! :) YAY!!!!

Chen Chen is from China going to school here at U of M. He didn't believe in God and now he does! He's read all the way to 2 Nephi! He was asking about how we know Laman and Lemuel were the ones who were wrong and not Nephi. He continued to ask how we know if our answers are right.... he paused and then said.... "Prayer?" The spirit is so powerful and such a great teacher!! We didn't have to say anything, the spirit taught him what he needed to know!

Zola is from Ethiopia. He's only here for about a couple more months. He had soo many questions about the Godhead, so we knew he needed to be taught the Restoration! I love the Restoration sooo much! It just makes so much sense! We know eternal truths like the Godhead being 3 separate beings and the main evidence is the Restoration and how do we know the Restoration to be true? The Book of Mormon! The Book of Mormon is the best super weapon ever! At the end he just said, "I need to read the Book of Mormon." :)

Yusong is also from China. We took him on a church tour and it was quite the experience. So he had never been in a church building before, so we're going around and we wanted to show him the baptismal font at the end.... but we couldn't find it.... haha We walked in circles forever and he just kept saying "Are we lost?" hahaha It was pretty hilarious! We finally found it!! When we invited him to be baptized he said "Baptism is like cutting your arm off... or getting a tattoo... It's permanent." I've never thought of baptism like that, but he understands how important and life changing this decision is. We just need to now help him understand it's a Wonderful change! More like signing up for an endless supply of ice-cream :)

MaRye is a 14 year old girl whose Mom is less-active. She is soooo smart! And she just wants to know if God is there! As I've served I feel like the root of most people comes down to just wanting to feel God's Love! It is soo important and It's a blessing to be a part of helping people find that love that is there for them!

So there are probably like a ton more things to share, but that will probably be good for today :) I Love you all! I Love Michigan and this Mission! I Love most of all may Savior Jesus Christ and our Loving Heavenly Father! They love you too and don't forget that! :)

Love,

Sister Tracy

Yep, Goodbye Ann Arbor! (Nov. 3, 2014)

Wow! Your temple trip sounds like SOOO much fun! I went to the temple Thursday too :) It was wonderful!! I love the temple, and one of the couples in the Presidency is from Rochester and so I love seeing them too :) We went with our relief society president, Sister Fisher! She's the BEST!! I love her sooo much!! When I get home, if it's possible I WANT to be a temple worker soooo bad!! I think it sounds wonderful! I can't believe they let Hope go in and watch! That's sooo cool!

Halloween...... Your pumpkins rock! I was going to carve a pumpkin, but ran out of time... next year :) Hope looks so big in her pictures! NOOO, she needs to stay little so I can still carry her! I'm so glad our ward is doing so great in missionary work!! That is AWESOME!! You are the best! We had a fun Halloween! One of my favorite member families, the Caziers, invited us over for dinner. They had a fun dinner where the menu is things like, pile of maggots, snakes on a stick, ect. It was fun! And then... It snowed :) Not a ton, but it was still fun to run around in it! Then we had to be in by 7 and we studied about the Book of Mormon! I love that book! It is the very best book ever!! And it is soo true!

Also we had some great miracles this week!!! We met two less-actives that aren't in the records, through tracting! They were both super sweet and excited for us to come back! One was from Guatemala and just stopped coming when he moved here. I said you should come to our church! And he said, "Alright." Missionary work is soo easy :) haha

Man, I can't believe Libby's mom ruined my surprise... haha Just kidding! It was so cool to meet her, she was just about to leave and barely saw me! She was super sweet!!

So yep transfers are tomorrow morning. Saturday we got the call and found out we are both leaving!! It was super crazy! I was shocked! So 3 new sisters will be coming into this area. I was expecting to finish my mission in Ann Arbor and so was everyone else, so it's been super hard to say goodbye to everyone!!! I LOVE ALL my investigators, less-actives, and members!!!! I will miss them soo much! We pretty much are running around with our heads cut off! There's so much to do! I'm pretty much all packed, so today we need to clean the car and apartment for the new sisters, Say Goodbye to A TON of people! Go to the post office to mail some stuff home! I have way too much stuff, but I can't get rid of it! :) So a box will be coming home. And then the most important thing is to make sure the area is ready for missionaries to take over! I'm usually really good at keeping the Area Book updated, but not this transfer..... So we have a lot of writing to do today. I guess God is showing me the importance of keeping records! Records are sooooo important, if you love the people you teach, YOU WILL keep records! That way when new missionaries come in they know what the investigators need! Anyways pray we get it all done :) haha I know we will!

So actually there are a few sisters areas that are getting whitewashed! Pretty crazy! It will be an exciting transfer! I will be a Sister Training Leader this transfer again. First President's transferring me, then putting me as an STL.... I think he's trying to keep me from getting trunky, haha :) Just kidding, don't worry I'm not trunky! I LOVE it here way toooo much!

Anyways, gotta go and get everything done :)

Love you Lots, I'll send my new address next Monday :)

Love, Sister Tracy

P.S. Grandma Tracy, I did get your letter and loved it!! THANKS :) I'll write back soon!

Hey! (Oct. 27, 2014)

Hey :)

It's been a good week! It's been chilly but I'm Loving it!! Bobbie is still doing good, trying to get her to come to church... She thinks we are her church, but she doesn't understand the importance of the sacrament and receiving revelation in the church building! We've been trying to work better with the members. So many people are wanting to help but don't always know how. As we go in members homes we've been trying to leave better specific goals and challenges for the members. As we've been doing this we've seen a big change! This ward is so Awesome!!! And I just Love them ALL!!!

We get to go to the temple this week on Thursday at 10 am, so we don't have a ton of time to write! I love you all and know I'm doing good here in Michigan! :)

Love, Sister Tracy

I Love LEAVES!! (Oct. 20, 2014)

Hey there!

You are right dad... It is cold here! But that's ok because the fall is still beautiful here! I've probably picked up a hundred leaves! I'm pretty sure I like the fall here way better than the fall in Utah. There are just soo many trees and the leaves are BEAUTIFUL!! I always make my companion stop while I pick up some pretty ones :) The other day I thought I saw a perfect one, so I crossed the street to pick it up. When I finally saw it up close, it had one small hole in it.. I was bummed and said "Man, it wasn't the perfect leaf!" My companion put me in my place and asked me "What makes a perfect leaf?" haha I went on for probably 20 minutes on how she made a great point. Every leaf is so uniquely different, they are perfect in their own way! Leaves are just like us as children of God...we are all so unique, but beautiful.  We just have to look at them with the right eyes! A hole in a leaf, could be compared to a trial that has left a scar on someone, but that hole is making that person uniquely different and maybe even more beautiful in a way. And then leaves crinkle up and die.... haha Just kidding hahaha kind of :)

Dad, I loved the thoughts you shared with me about your lesson in teacher's quorum! Charity is I think is one of my most favorite characteristics. We are nothing without charity! This week was Stake Conference and it was AWESOME! The Stake Relief Society President talked about Practicing Charity. She talked about how we aren't perfect and how we don't have perfect charity right now, but that we should always practice charity! I loved that thought, I definitely am trying to practice charity everyday, so when I fall short I remember I just need to keep practicing! :)

We started teaching a 9 yr old boy, whose mom is less-active and whose dad is not a member. It made me so sad as we talked about God and he wasn't sure if he was really there. When we asked if he would pray, he didn't know how! It was so heart wrenching! In General Conference Tad R. Callister talked about the importance of parents and teaching the gospel. It really starts in the home! It was a great talk and he mentioned Detroit... (did you catch that :D). I'm so grateful to have been taught by you (Mom and Dad)! I have so much thanks to give you and I will always be appreciative of the truths I was taught when I was young! :)

We've been teaching a man named Trip and his wife Michelle. They are VERY religious and sure do know their bible! Yesterday we talked about the Nature of God. He had all these scriptures he was throwing out about how God and Christ are one. I wanted to start firing out the scriptures I know that show they are separate like when Christ was baptized, or when the earth was created, ect. But the spirit restrained me. After I sat and listened, the spirit prompted me to testify. It wasn't an argument but just my testimony that Joseph Smith's experience in the Sacred Grove was True! I know that God and Jesus Christ appeared to him, and because of this experience I know they are separate beings! As Neil L. Anderson spoke, he talked about how we can build our testimony about Joseph Smith. Study his testimony often!! Read and record his testimony in your own words! I'm so grateful for Joseph Smith and know he is a true prophet of God! So much of our testimonies start from that seed.  Knowing Joseph Smith was a prophet and Believing in what he said he saw!

Well, I better go! I LOVE you all soo much! Have a Wonderful Week! :)

Love, Sister Tracy

Good Day (Oct. 15, 2014)

Good Day :)

So sorry about not emailing on Monday. All of the Libraries in Ann Arbor were closed for an annual staff meeting or something like that. And then Yesterday we had a new missionary training all day and then appointments and then today we had a zone meeting, so we are just finding time! Hope you didn't think I forgot about you :)

Last week was a good week! We had interviews, which are always great! And this time we got to watch "Meet the Mormons." All of the mission presidents got a special copy to show to the missionaries. It was SOOO GOOD!! I hope you all got to go see it, it was playing Friday and Saturday and all proceeds went to charity! If enough people went to see it, the church will be able to put it on Netflix and Amazon, which would be so SWEEET!!! I love how technology it's such a great way for people to be introduced to the gospel!

We have been teaching Bobbie, and I absolutely LOVE her! She reminds me of Nancie in a lot of ways. She's had a rough life, and I mean ROUGH! But she Loves Christ and Loves to Pray! We invited her to be baptized and she said Yes :) It won't be for awhile, because of her past there will have to be some things that happen first. So the very soonest would be 6 months, but the gospel has been brought to her life and she is loving it! When we taught her about the Book of Mormon she got so excited and she was so anxious to read it! She pretty much kicked us out the door :) haha

Not sure if I told you about Simeneh?! He's from Ethiopia and we've still been teaching him. We've started at the basics, helping him to know God is really there and that is one of my favorite things to do! It's Amazing to see people come to know God for the first time :) Sometimes I think we don't always realize what a blessing it is to know we are children of God! I was talking to a sister today about the song "I am a child of God." Both of us have sung that song to non-members multiple times and every time is a VERY spiritual experience! The person usually says something like "That song is so familiar" "Where can I find this song?!" "Can we sing it again?" I know we are literal children of God and He loves us soo much! Never forget it and share it with everyone! :)

Have I told you about Weiting? So she's a Recent Convert and moved into our ward. I LOVE her!!! Everytime I see her I get sooo happy :) This week she was having a real hard time! She has a newborn baby and is a stay at home mom. Her parents act like they are not proud of her and embarrased that she does not have a good job or going to school to get a good job. Being from China it is all about being the BEST, and that means making the most money, working the hardest, being the boss, ect. We explained to her that the most important thing on earth is our families! The most important job she could ever have is being a mother! Families are eternal! Our money, homes, jobs, Elder Holland has said even our callings might not be, but are Families ARE! We were both in tears and she felt so comforted and at peace. I again take for granted the knowledge that we have of simple things like, families can be together forever. I was talking to a member who joined the church only a few years ago. She has a young daughter and they've been learning the primary songs together. She said she wishes she was raised with these songs. Primary songs are SOOO GOOD!! The basics are what we really need to know, those are things that truly change us and help us become!

Anyways, I LOVE YOU ALL!
Have A Great time in DisneyLand! The happiest place on earth minus Detroit, Michigan :)

Love, SIster Tracy

Me Singing In The Rain!

My modeling at U of M law school... haha

Conference was SOOO GOOD!!! :) (Oct. 6, 2014)

Hey :)

Conference was SOOOO GOOD!!!! :) I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to listen to the word's of the Lord! Just as D&C 1:38 says, Whether it's the servants of the Lord speaking or the Lord himself, It is the SAME! Every time Conference comes it seriously feels like Christmas. Because I was so excited all week, that was pretty much the first thing I told Everyone that I met. "Hey guess what? Did you know that the prophet of God is talking to the Whole world this weekend?!?!" :) I think we got a few people to watch it :) I felt like there was repetition about many things. But repetition is GOOD! We need our own testimony! We should sustain and follow our prophet! We need to make the sacrament a more spiritual experience! We NEED to be doing prayer, scripture study, FHE, temple, family history work. I loved the focus on Christ's example! Christ has lived the perfect life, if we just follow him then we can have that happiness here and joy in the future :) Just SOO MUCH goodness!!

Anyways not sure if you remember Kun. He's from China. He really wants to be baptized? Well he went to China for 40 days, got back this week and left again yesterday. But we met with him a few days this week before he left!! It's funny with most people we are trying to help them accept being baptized. With Kun we have to slow him down and say "wait, there's a few things you need to understand first." haha He has such a great desire but he's not the most committed person. The covenants we make with God are not something to be taken lightly, and I would feel awful letting someone be baptized when I know they have no intention of keeping their covenants in the future! So we pray for him A ton and just hope he'll understand the things we are teaching him :)

Also I'm not sure if you remember Victor? Well he's Awesome! We were having a hard time getting in touch with him and finally this week he told us his concern. He so badly wants to be baptized in November but his whole Mom's side of the family is Muslim..... So they would ban him from the family if he joined the church... So he's thinking about it... I'm going to talk to President and see what our stand should be? There are so many muslims in Michigan. Dearborn I think is the greatest population of Muslims in the United States. And we have to be very careful when we teach them, sometimes our mission president gives us guidelines, ect. Anyways we're praying for him a ton too!

We have a sweet new investigator from Ethiopia! The sisters on campus met him but he's 36, so he's in our ward!!! :) I watched conference with him and he was very engaged! Took notes and had questions after! He wants to be like the men who spoke and like the missionaries, and guess what he can... BY being baptized and coming closer to Christ through Faith and Repentance! :)

We had a last minute exchange Yesterday. There's so many people here helping me and Sister Kesler out! It's great! I'm not sure if I told you but she was struggling the day Elder Cardon spoke to us. After this last week, she received some awesome letters from sisters in the mission! I don't even think they realize the impact that had on her! She LOVED them! A lot of times we don't realize the impact small things have on people. But they are so important!! In conference being kind and serving was mentioned a lot! I hope we can take those words and be a little kinder than we were before conference started, as President Monson stated :) It's great seeing her grow. I totally feel like a proud mother, haha But I can't take credit, I know it's the Lord that teaches us and helps us grow! There's still a lot I hope I can teach her before this transfers through, but the Lord Works Miracles EVERYDAY!

Well love you Lots!

Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Tracy :)

Pictures from Sept. 29, 2014

Sister Hartley and I at a Cider Mill, Doing our country thing...

We painted "The Rock" on U of M campus. So everyone that drove by got to see the TRUTH :)

My Companion Sister Kesler and Pictures from her Birthday! :)

Elder Cardon (Sept 29, 2014)

Hey there family!

So I'm sure you've all been waiting to hear who my new companion is..... Sister Kesler! She's from Bluffdale Utah :) Crazy huh! She graduated a year before me. We know a couple of the same people. She is 4'6, so I am experiencing what is like to be tall :) She's pretty spunky and pretty easy to love! Her birthday was on Saturday and she turned 22!! (So I used some money from my card to buy her pizza and ice-cream..) Training again will be a good experience for me, It's always good to go back to the basics!!!

Elder Cardon was Awesome! I told his wife that I knew her son and daughter-in-law, and she enjoyed talking about her grandkids :) Did you know they live in Utah now? I actually got a personal interview by Elder Cardon which I thought was pretty cool! He talked to me about a lot of great things that I needed to hear! At the end he asked me if I had any questions for him. I asked what he thought was the most important thing to learn on the mission. Since then I've been thinking about what questions I would REALLY want to ask a general authority. I'm going to start making a list of some questions, so if I ever get that chance again, I'll be prepared! What question would you ask?! :)

I did watch the women's Conference and it was AWESOME!! I especially loved Pres. Uchtdorf's talk!!! GOD REALLY DOES LOVE US!! I also loved the example of the Umbrella. God is showering blessings down upon us. When we have fear, doubt, or sin we are holding up an umbrella. No one keeps us from the blessings we can receive except ourselves! All we have to do is be obedient to the commandments! :) I'm so excited for the rest of conference!!! We aren't sure where we'll be watching it yet, probably just at the church.

Love you Much!

Sister Samantha Tracy :)

Here's a link to the woman's meeting in case you missed it. 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/10?lang=eng&vid=3810237340001 

Is It Really Winter.... (Sept. 15, 2014)

Hey there from Antarctica! :)

Haha just kidding..... kind of..... It is super cold here already! This week we had to get our tights out and boots and coats. People keep telling us the winter is going to be way worse than last winter....So Sis. Hartley and I are preparing for winter like the squirrels and eating lots of treats :)

GO COUGARS!!! I think I told you last week... but man I miss football. The Big House is pretty close to our apartment and we drive by it pretty much every day. I try to convince Sis. Hartley that we can do lots of teaching at football games, but I don't think she's going for it. haha :)

So yep! Sis. Hartley and I are only going to be together 1 more week. She's going home!!!!!!! It's so weird, people are always asking her about home, and what's she's going to do. It's just weird! For some reason I can't picture me home.... When my time comes I will definitely be excited to see you all!!! But I just can't picture not being a missionary... I think I'll write the prophet for special permission to just be a full-time missionary at home too!! Good thing I got a while :) Mission life is the best! I've just been loving it!! Our area is awesome! Our ward is awesome! I think Sis. Hartley is a bit jealous that she can't stay longer. It's Ok, she'll be a great member missionary :)

So this week I got a hair cut! I have bangs, they're nice and I like them! Sis. Hartley says I don't look as serious. Even when I try not to smile, she says I look happy. Apparently I looked intimidating when I first came. Can you picture me intimidating? Haha I used to not...but maybe I've changed... Who knows?

We've been teaching Victor, the one who's already stopped drinking coffee..... and he's on date to be baptized November 1st! He's sooo cool!! Keep praying for Victor!

So we went on a couple exchanges this week. We went to Ypsilanti and Northville. I Love exchanges!! So many miracles happen!! In Ypsi, we met so many superb people!!! I wanted to share one of the many sweet miracles. I was with Sister Hart (she came out with me in July) and we were contacting at EMU. It was around 8pm maybe...as we were walking I felt a prompting to go down to where this fountain was. Except there was no soul to be seen down there. In the other direction, there were tons of students. It made no sense to go where there were no people, but we followed the prompting! When we got down there, around the corner we saw one lady sitting at a table. We asked if we could sit with her and we just start talking. She asked who we were and I said, "We are here representing Jesus Christ!" She starts saying "WOW, I can't believe you are here right now!" She then tells us of this remarkable story of how she had been kidnapped and raped and had been missing for 4 days in Detroit until she escaped. She had been questioning God's Love and we testified strongly of his Love for her!! She just cried and cried. She knew that us coming was an answer to her prayer! Sometimes we may receive promptings that don't make sense to us. I testify that as we act on whatever promptings we receive, Miracles will happen! Sometimes we may not ever know what those miracles may be, but that's not the point. We are just to learn to recognize and Act! And I am so grateful that we acted that night!

So on Saturday I got to exchange with Sis. Mo'unga (she's my MTC companion)! Right after meeting this man who first off believes our spirits don't have genders, making God half female, half male (ya, weird) and second telling us we are the prophets for Michigan.... we meet a man who doesn't believe we can receive our own revelation. I started thinking about this and the importance of revelation. First, what is revelation? I would say simply, it's God communicating to his children. God loves us and of course he'll communicate to us personally! Sometimes we get inpatient, making us believe we can't receive revelation. When we don't think we're getting the revelation as soon as we think we should, we sometimes want to stop doing the things that bring revelation (like obedience, prayer, scripture study, fasting, good health practices). They're not working apparently, so why do I do them? Well after realizing an Apostle doesn't have to be sitting in the same room as you, to be taught by an apostle, I asked Elder Richard G. Scott this question. The answer is, we have to be consistent! We have to have a determined effort to continually do what is right! We have to stop worrying and just be obedient! When we are obedient, then the Lord will trust us! And those who the Lord trusts will be guided to solutions! :)

I know you can all receive personal revelation. Don't give up with doing what you know is right! Be patient, and God will bless his righteous children!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Have a superb week :)

Sister Tracy

I Love being a missionary!!!:) (Sept. 8, 2014)

Good Morning!!

I LOVED the Fuddruckers Picture!!!! Hahaha I wish you could send me one here too! But you know Saturday I was on an exchange in Chelsea, and I got a burger that was pretty delicious, it might have been the size of my face, but it was SOOO good! :) 

I'm so glad you (Mom and Dad) were able to go on a fun trip! It sounds pretty great :) I loved San Antonio, it was just beautiful!! Is that were you lived when you were first married? I can't remember where you were?  Wow the temple sounds GORGEOUS!! I Love the temple!! I miss visiting the temple frequently. You really can feel the quiet peace within! 

YA BYU! When I was getting my Macho burger, there were T.V.'s all over showing football games, and I didn't realize how much I miss watching football!! I love that sport! I'm glad BYU is looking good! 

So you met a Sister Missionary at the game! That's cool! And she gets to serve with her sister! I would have loved to serve with Melinda! I guess she'll have to come out on another mission so I can do that  :) So Mom, you asked about the Sister Missionary Leader... We call it a Sister Training Leader here. I'm not sure how it compares to other missions. But it sounds pretty similar to the sister who served in Texas. Here both sisters in the companionship are Sister Training Leaders, So yes Sis. Hartley is as well. We have 8 in our mission (so 4 companionships). We do get trained monthly, we call it MLCM (it's always the last Thursday of the Month). We get trained there, and we council on how to help the mission, or what to instruct in upcoming zone meetings/ training meetings. We go on exchanges with the sisters that we serve. Sis. Hartley and I serve 6 companionship's, so we do about once a week, except this transfer we weren't able to do too many at the beginning of the transfer, so we've been doing about 2 a week. Here Sis. Hartley and I both leave our area and split with them in their area all day. We study with them and plan with them. And we switch companions half way through the day. I won't lie at first I was very worried that we'd be out of our area so much and the work in our area would suffer....but boy was I mistaken!! We've been blessed tremendously and have actually been able to do more work in our specific area, even with less days working here! It's So amazing to see God's blessings! So yeah, those are basic responsibilities. We council with the zone leaders and President, and the district leaders to see how we can help the sisters. We give them calls throughout the week. We try our best to know their areas, investigators, less actives, ect. We send them texts and just do our best to lift, encourage, enspire, and bless! I feel so grateful to have had this opportunity to serve in this way! I think the best part is getting to know so many people in each area and learning from all of the amazing sisters out here!! I'm not sure if that was what you were looking for, but if you have more questions let me know :)

Ok, Izabelle is just BEAUTIFUL! I'm so excited to come home and hold that little baby :) Ruby got baptized! Wow! They are getting old so fast!  I just love our family, it's the Best! I'm going to get home though and everyone's going to be soo different. That will be fun!

So sorry for all that...I think I like to talk to you :) So this week we've met some sweet people!! So one night, we had finished our appointment early and I felt like we should go down this specific street, it was about 8:45 pm and we had maybe 7 minutes before we needed to leave, to get home on time. We start heading down that street and we walk over to this home, there was a SWEET girl named Nimsi outside. We start talking to her and she is SOO prepared!!! It was funny after talking to her for a few minutes, she said "Wait, so I don't know you right?" We told her no, and she explained that she was wracking her brain thinking of how she knew us, since we talked to her like we were best friends! haha That actually happens to me all the time! I'll smile and start talking to people and they'll say things like "I'm sorry, remind me how I know you." or "I feel bad but I can't remember where we met". HAHA I just laugh and tell them they don't really know me, but I just Love them a whole a lot any ways! (who knows maybe we did know each other in the pre-mortal life!)

We also got a sweet referral from a member! The only info we had was to say that Ron sent us. So we knock on the door and Victor answers, I just say we're missionaries and he cuts me off and says "I've been waiting for you!" :) Music to our ears. He lets us in and we ask him some questions. I ask what he's heard and he says " All I know about the church is that you don't drink alcohol and coffee right?" We say "ya" (expecting him to start questioning us) Instead he's like "I think that's SOO cool! When Ron told me that I immediately stopped drinking coffee!" I've never had some interested in learning because of the Word of Wisdom. He's so Prepared by God!!

And I have to tell you about this AWESOME Purchase I made! So while I was on an exchange this week, the Sister's had a former investigator that they just started teaching again, she's a HUGE couponer, like Extreme Couponing style! And she gave them some coupons for nail polish, so they were going to expire, so we ran to purchase some nail polish. We purchased 33 nail polishes and guess how much they all cost together..............................................$2.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so crazy!! When I get home I'm going to be an extreme couponer! :)

Update on Bro. Winemiller. I think I told you about him. He's our neighbor that we helped bring in groceries one day, when I was on Nyquil.. He loves family history and has like a billion binders full of his history! Well at first he said he wasn't interested in hearing about our beliefs but just the genealogy. Well guess what... Last time we went over, All we talked about was the Gospel!!! We talked about the Book of Mormon and the pre-earth life, and God being our father in Heaven!! After he said, (remember he's agnostic) "If an angel came down and told me to join a church today, I'd join the Mormons"

Also I can't remember if I told you about Kathy. She's a sweet investigator that we met while having dinner with a member. She's his neighbor, and said she'd be find if we started coming over. Well we've been teaching her. And yesterday she got up and bore her testimony!!! She walked up and said "I'm not a member of this church and some of you might wonder who that strange lady is. But as I've kept coming, I've finally realized why I like it here....It's because God is present in this building." I felt the spirit sooo strong! Our church is the house of the Lord! The spirit does reside there and she can feel it, I can feel it! It was really neat!

Well I LOVE you all!! Have a fabulous Week! :)

Love, Sister Tracy

Interesting week.... (Sept 2, 2014)

Heyo!

Sorry for emailing a day late, Libraries are closed on holidays :)

We had a super good MLCM!!! We talked about leadership and principles of unrighteousness and righteousness. We read from D&C 121! The principles learned from this section are SOO Wonderful and can help ALL of us to be better leaders! Mom I highly recommend studying this with your new calling in mind! I definitely learned a lot of things that I know can help me become better! Slowly but Surely I know I'll get there someday :)

    Also I was able to see Haili this week!!! That was super fun!!!! We had dinner Thursday night and then I saw her again at the I'm a Mormon devotional! It was so great to see her again! I just LOVE her!!

    So this week was an interesting one... haha It was good though!! Sister Hartley has just been having some weird things happen to her. A couple happened this week. If you remind me when I get home I'll tell you about the first one. The second one was real adventure!! So Friday night I had finished praying and had been laying in bed for maybe 10 minutes when Sis. Hartley says she needs my help. She was having super bad lower abdominal pain. So after I tried to play doctor with her and didn't know what was up I called Sis. Gerber who told me to take her into the Hospital. So we went to the University of Michigan ER since it was the closest..... We got there around 11:00 pm and we ended up leaving the hospital at 3:30 pm the next day!! Yikes it was crazy! She didn't even see a doctor until 8:00 am, so we just waited in the waiting room. Sis. Gerber wasn't too excited about that.  Haha She kept saying "Someone could die in there and they wouldn't even know!" It was interesting though. We got to meet lots of different people. The main reason it was so busy was because it was the night before a football game, holiday weekend, and welcome back week. So that all adds up to intoxicated students EVERYWHERE!!! One kid came up to us and said "Are you here for an MIP too"....haha Definitely not! He had broken into the big house (the football stadium.) He kept saying, "This can't go on my record, I'm trying to get into law school!" He was from Chicago and did have a couple friends on LDS missions, so we were able to talk about our church. We invited him to cookie and game night at the institute :) We told him he'd have much more fun there then drunk in the ER :) We also were able to teach this really nice man who was there due to a pimple gone wild. We ended up talking about our religion for over an hour before he went back. Who knew the ER in the middle of the night was such a great place to teach people!!! :) Anyways at first they thought she had appendicitis, but after doing an ultra sound, found out she just had a huge cyst on her ovary. She's doing better now! We were soooo tired and went home and slept! So coming home after all that it was SOOO GREAT to come home to a package from a Wonderful Family!!! THANKS SO MUCH!! I LOVED IT!!! (haha and you even sent AAA batteries, haha) THANKS!! I also loved the little cards!

    I was studying the prodigal son this week and repentance! First, I just love repentance what an amazing gift we have! Do we use it everyday though? We should because we're so lucky to have it! While reading the prodigal son this time I saw so many similarities of myself. Prodigal means wasteful, I would say a lot of us probably waste many of the things God's given us, including the gift of Repentance or Forgiveness. We are in this great place and then we run off and forget the reason we had peace in the first place! But God is loving and merciful!!! In Luke 15:20, "the father when his son was "a great way off" "saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." I know God Loves us!! If we will return to the Father (in prayer and repentance for instance), God will graciously accept us and Forgive us! Don't forget to repent! It's a good thing :)

I LOVE YOU!!!

Love, Sister Tracy :)

Crazy Stuff Is Happening!!! (Aug 18, 2014)

Holy Moly!

   So we've had a busy week as well! :) Transfers were this week. Sis. Hartley and I are staying together as Sister Training Leaders. She I think is a little stressed about going home but we're still working hard! She told me I only have 4 more transfers and I was mind blown! I told her we aren't talking about going home anymore, haha :) Anyways because there was so much rain here, Detroit had Soo much flooding, so transfers was cancelled until the next day. It didn't affect us at all except district meeting was cancelled so they could have transfers in its place.

 So we are teaching some sweet people!! I think I mentioned Manuel last week. He is from Equatorial Guinea and he's here learning English. He will be here for another 9 months. So the sisters met him near campus one day, but then he kind of dropped off the face of the planet. When I came we found him and have had some powerful lessons with him. He knows the church is true and wants to be baptized but is nervous about getting baptized since there are no members in his country. The closest branch is a 5 hour flight away. He is so cool though!! I just love him! He's one of those people you meet and you can just feel they have such a warm spirit! His English is  getting better and better and he says he understands me better now, haha :) I've learned that the spirit truly is the teacher! Sometimes after we leave, I wonder how he was able to answer certain questions or know what I'm saying, but it is totally the Spirit! We are soooo lucky to have the Holy Ghost, the perfect teacher!

   Here's another sweet miracle. So I was reading through some former sheets and read the name of Kun and felt like I needed to call him. I did and left a message. The next day he calls and says "I'm flying into town tomorrow can we meet tomorrow?" Of course I say "Yes!" So here is Kun's story. He had found the church online and after researching found the institute building. He walked in one day and send "I'm turning myself in! I'm ready to be baptized!" The sisters taught him all the lessons and he was interviewed and on the day of his baptism he didn't show up. His wife is very traditional chinese and against religion...especially our religion. So he was afraid she'd divorce him if he joined the church. So he backed out. This whole year he says he knows he needs to be baptized, he's been reading the Book of Mormon everyday and feels so guilty and like he's in this darkness because he knows the truth but hasn't joined the church. He was feeling so bad and it was the next day that I called him. He kept saying, "I'm not afraid anymore, Can I get baptized tomorrow?" He has one of the strongest testimonies I've ever heard! We all knelt down together to pray for his wife's heart to be softened and the spirit was so thick in that room! He's back in China for 3 weeks, but when he gets back we pray that his wife will have given him consent by then! Anyways I love him too!!

    Random things: There is a family in my ward the Frei's and he is cousins with the Fuells! So that was cool! He showed me a picture of Joe and his fiance. I still can't believe how many people are engaged! I tried a ground cherry for the first time! They are delicious! I've come to love gardening!! I want to be a pro gardener when I get home! :)

    Well that's all for now! I love you! Have a great week!! :)

Love, Sister Tracy

Be Patient In Afflictions (Aug. 4, 2014)

Dear Family!

Your week sounds SPECTACULAR!! My companion loves Wicked and tells me I have to see it some day. What a cool story! I'm glad you're all having fun! And you sure are a good lookin bunch :)

My week has been a little on the sick side... My companion got sick on Tuesday and we stayed in for most of the day, then on Wednesday she was even more sick, so I tried to set up some splits with ward members so I could still go out and work. So we went and picked up a sister, went and dropped off my sick companion, drove to our investigator taught a great lesson, drove back to pick up my sick companion, dropped off the member, drove to pick up another member, went and dropped off my companion, drove to our next investigator and taught super short lesson (We didn't realize how much time this would all take), drove through rush hour traffic to pick up my companion and finally dropped off the member. So after all of this our day was pretty much gone... But at least I got to teach people instead of being in all day! :) I LOVE to Work!!

Thursday my companion was still sick, but we had our Mission Leadership Council Meeting at the MIssion Home. It was an AWESOME meeting! We talked a lot about how to increase our expectations in finding, teaching, and baptizing! As missionaries we should be spending all of our time doing these three things, and it only takes a couple minutes to baptize, so we're mostly finding and teaching! :) So we talked about how to work on these areas. I think for finding our high councilman over missionary work said it best. "We just need to become finders." This is not just missionaries but all members. No matter where we are or what we are doing We need to open our mouths! This morning I read D&C 24:12. "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men." God gives us the strength we need, we just have to act! We have to have faith and act and everything falls into place. I love that!

Friday she was feeling a little better so we got to go out and work and teach a couple people. But then when we had dinner I wasn't feeling too well (just like a cold), so I wanted to take some medicine. All I had was nyquil though so I took it.... I don't know if that was good though... I took a short nap and then when I woke up I was so out of it. We walked outside and helped this man with his groceries and started talking to him and I couldn't even see this man by the end, I swear I was going to pass out. But I didn't :) haha I sat down for a second and then I was fine.... I don't know if that is what it feels like to be all on drugs or alcohol but I didn't particularly enjoy that feeling, so I think I'll stick to the Word of Wisdom. :)

Saturday we went on an exchange in Chelsea. This area is a pretty tough area to serve in. Lots and Lots of work and not too many interested people. The sisters told us they had been persecuted a lot, but I definitely got to see that for myself. We were tracting down a street and on our way back there was a lady who had been waiting for us, she chewed us out and just yelled at us for being on her street. She told us to leave right now and never come back or she'll call the cops. Well I think I was feeling a little too prideful and told the sister I was with that we should just keep going, that we have the right to be here. So we walked right past our car and kept going, when we looked behind us she had walked to our car and was all up on our car..... We didn't really know what to do so we called our assistant.. Fortunately she had left the car and we were able to get in without confrontation and leave...These sisters get stuff like this EVERY day and usually worse. I know they will be blessed for the work they are giving especially through their persecution!

"Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo,I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days." D&C 24:8

I Love you all!! Have A FANTASTIC week :)

Love, Sister Tracy